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You should not be paying for your own training for anothers company to benefit, and definitely not on minimum wage.
There is a whole can of worms here. Who is doing the risk assesments, buying the safety kit, insurance etc etc.
I would be very careful of undertaking ANY spraying for your employer without establishing CLEARLY who is legally responsible and liable for all aspects of the work.
I absolutely appluade you for wanting to gain new skills and having the gumption to undertake the training. But it sounds to me like you are subsidising your boss. There is much more here than just how much extra pay you should get.
Any decent employer should be paying your training especially on your wage. All the benefit goes to him and none to you but the liability will be on you should things go wrong.
I'm unsure on what to do now! Obvisley il do the training as there payed for but would you guys suggest i jump ship when i achieve my qulifications to a better employer?
Absolutely do the training.
I would suggest that training is almost as important as pay - particularly at a young age. You must be able to live, but developing more skills and gaining experience is necessary. Keeping your skills current is really important - if you don't you are falling behind. A good employer should be investing in their people.
I do not know your circumstances, the area you work in or your skills and background, it would be wrong of me to give you employment advice. If one of my children came back with a similar story I would tell them to say nothing to their employer, complete the training, and quietly wait for a better opportunity whilst keeping some money comming in. I might well add that they should ask about training opportunities when at their next job interview.
As an aside you might well find a local river improvement trust or angling group which will be grateful for your new skills and help you with the opportunity to gain some valuable experience - all be it in 2020.
There's some really good views already. Not sure that I would call your boss 'Old School', just because of his pay rise policy tho - seems the basics of business to me.
That said, well done on getting your qualifications under way and under your own steam. When complete, you will then have some bargaining power.
However, I am a little confused how your boss has gained these contracts without the necessary spray accreditation - maybe spraying isn't in his contract. If it isn't, then your bargaining power will be limited. If your boss will be using your new skills next year, then yes it is time time for a sit down with him and negotiate a pay rise.
Yes, look around at better opportunities, but don't burn your bridges with your current employer. A good point(and an obvious one!) to remember is that an employer will not pay you extra money for qualifications that are not relevant to his business.
We do use spraying on are sites ... it's put us so far behinde this year as we have been having to strim the weeds on the stone areas. Because we have no one who can spray hence why I took it upon myself to get qualified.
What would you guys approach your employer with I was going to ask for 9 pound or above 9 pound being the limt... is that reasonable?
I won't go into the 'rights and wrongs' of how your boss runs his business, but if he/she intends to use your new skills, you will certainly have some bargaining power.
I am assuming that you are on PAYE, so a good starting point would be to recoup your college costs in the first year. So lets say you are paid for 40hrs pw, +50p per hour would give you around +£1,000pa, which should cover the college costs and considering your new skill level, work up from there. But I'd let the Boss make an offer first - he/she may value you more than you do yourself!!
Not sure I would use the term "Old School" either.....
£9 is regarded as the "real living Wage" round here - £10 in London- Not sure?
If you ask for £9, you gain roughly £30 per week( based on40 hours/week) which is about £1400 per year. Best I can remember my pa1 and 6 were £600 and injector training was another £250. So you are only better of by roughly £500 - £600 per year. Tenner a week ish?
I really dislike the whole idea of a 'minimum wage' It has become just exactly that. It is too easy for firms to say :- "we pay the minimum wage as it avoids any arguements" In reality we should all be starting at a minimum wage and paying a good compotent worker more to reflect their skills, ability and value to our business.
The minimum wage scales are just utterly flawed. At 17 years and 11 months old you are payed £4.35 an hour could be the best, hardest working most compotent individual on a team and the lazy disinterested slob that is 3 months older than you earns almost 50% more at £6.15.....Just doesn't make sense. Same thing at 24 - you are fully an adult and doing the same job as at 30 years old, yet are paid 51pence per hour less than somebody who is 25. Now this arguement changes completely if you work for a good employer who invests in their workers and trains them to do a better job and to keep their skills relevant to the business. The lower wage will offset the training cost to a business for young people.
I would much rather employ a good cabable keen to learn 17 year old that I can train to work well in my business, to mentor them and to pay them a wage which keeps them happy and in my own business, then a much more experienced 26 year old who can't be bothered to get off a mower to move a bit of litter or even a brick. My local CO-OP is paying shelf stackers £13/hour....which made me look very hard at what I was charging my customers!!!!!
Personally I think your boss should be paying for your training AND raising your wages. WHY? Because somebody who is keen to learn and to tackle an obvious problems in the business is worth far more to me and my business than minimum wage.
Others may disagree.
I am quietly hoping that another member in your local area has sent you a Pm suggesting a quiet chat.......
I live in Leicestershire and I'm 30 yrs old been working in grounds maintenance for 7 years now and I do have a great work ethic which I pride myself on I'm the frist out the van and last back in... I don't want to leave my employer but as all of us I have a family to support and bills to pay
Like your boss or not the Economics of your situation are fairly clear.
7 years experience with this boss? You should not be on minimum wage. Which highlights some of my critism of the idea of a mandated minimum wage.
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